If the conversations stirring in the Helena community are any
indication, there’s likely to be a lot of dialogue between parents,
community members and school board trustees throughout the summer
on the Helena Public School District’s proposed health
curriculum.

“Everybody is passionate about it because it affects everyone and
our own personal beliefs and values,” Burson said.

The process of revamping the student health curriculum began two
years ago with an intense review, and a health enhancement
curriculum committee has been meeting monthly all school year — as
have several subcommittees — to collaborate on the draft.

Committee members include district staff, and representatives from
law enforcement, St. Peter’s Hospital and the Office of Public
Instruction. The committee used best practices and research-based
information from state and national health organizations, Burson
said, and the draft incorporates the district’s philosophy of
teaching to the whole child.

The health education component, which includes sex education, is
generating the most controversy.

In the human sexuality section, the draft provides a guideline for
when topics should be introduced, claiming age-appropriateness. The
draft says that in first grade, students should understand that
human beings can love people of the same gender and people of
another gender. By second grade, students should understand that
making fun of people by calling them gay is disrespectful and
hurtful. In fifth grade, the document says students should
understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to
vaginal, oral or anal penetration. The proposed document’s
reproductive system portion aims to give body parts proper names
starting in kindergarten.

Currently a “maturation day” is held for students in Helena Public
Schools in fifth grade — boys in one room and girls in another —
where body parts, function and reproduction are presented.

There is currently no specific health education taught in
elementary school beyond what’s incorporated into physical
education and daily classroom lessons. In high school, health class
is required at the sophomore level.

“By 10th grade, they’ve made their choices — good and bad,” Burson
said.

The comprehensive health curriculum affords students the knowledge
and tools to live a healthy lifestyle, said Drenda Carlson, Youth
Connections Coalition director.

Some conversations in the community suggest that the information
proposed is too graphic for elementary-school minds.

Cindie Bacon is the mother of an outgoing kindergartner. She says
her daughter has no interest in how babies are made. Bacon says
that if this age group is not at a place where they are asking
questions out of curiosity, the information should not be pushed on
them.

“In addition, why do they have to learn such a list of reproductive
body parts?” she wrote in an e-mail. “I have no problem with basic
body parts being taught, but again, my 5-year-old girl has no need
to understand the scrotum or testicles at this point.”

Bacon believes children should learn about these important subjects
at their own pace, with their parents, who can give as much or as
little detail as the child’s curiosity and maturity levels dictate,
not part of a school district curriculum.

Karrie Fairbrother, who works at St. Peter’s Hospital and served on
the committee, said she’d rather be a proponent of giving students
information to know the possible consequences before they make a
decision that can harm them for life.

“Give them the tools to make informed decisions,” Fairbrother said
to trustees. “We do have sexually active students — more than 50
percent of students in high school are.”

If trustees approve the draft, a big piece of the implementation
will be professional development and deciding who will teach what.
Superintendent Bruce Messinger said one option would be to hire an
instructional health coach using stimulus money to work with
classroom teachers on how to implement the new protocols, but
that’s not yet been discussed or determined.

Burson said the primary focus would be kindergarten though
eighth-grade teachers to help them integrate the curriculum into
other subjects such as consumer science and environmental
safety.

Not all the details are ironed out, and trustees say they hope the
public gets involved and offers input.

Messinger said if the document is approved, the district always
works with families when areas taught in school don’t mesh with
personal beliefs. For example, there are a few book titles — a
recent example in Helena was James Welch’s “Fools Crow” — that are
typically required reading in high school English classes, but that
some families don’t want their teenagers to read. In those
circumstances, the school works with the family to select another
book. Parents uncomfortable with the information disseminated to
students have the option to withdraw.

“Some of these are personal decisions that require family
discussions,” Messinger said in an interview on Monday.

About 30 people attended the board meeting, but none were allowed
to offer public comment on the first reading.

During the second reading, scheduled for 6 p.m. July 13 at the
Front Street Learning Center, public comment will be accepted, but
it’s also accepted in writing at the May Butler Center or by e-mail
to bmessinger@helena.k12.mt.us.

The third and final reading is set for Aug. 10 at which time
trustees will vote to approve or deny the draft.